Former Gamecock, Rams Super Bowl champ shares what Joe DeCamillis will bring to South Carolina
Replacing Pete Lembo wasn’t going to be an easy task. But just over a week after he departure for Buffalo, and South Carolina has been able to land one of the best special teams minds on any level with the hiring of Joe DeCamillis.
The reception for the Gamecocks new special teams coordinator/associate head coach has been extremely positive. That includes from former Gamecocks tight end Kyle Markway who won a Super Bowl with DeCamillis during their time with the Los Angeles Rams.
“It (has) me super excited for Gamecock Nation because I know how good of a fit it’ll be,” Markway told GamecockCentral. “He’s a football coach that truly loves the game. He loves the game and has a ton of knowledge. He’s gonna bring a lot of good stuff to this program.”
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DeCamillis spent this past season as a special assistant to the head coach at the University of Texas. Prior to that, he spent over over 30 years coaching in the NFL including stints running the special teams for the Giants, Falcons, Jaguars, Cowboys, Broncos, and mostly recently the Rams, where he won Super Bowl LVI marking his second Super Bowl title of his coaching career.
“What I can tell you about Joe D is that he’s gonna be consistent with what he does everyday. As a special teams coordinator you need to be able to connect with the offensive line, defensive line, just every single player. I think that’s the biggest thing that stood out to me while being around him was the connections he makes with the players on a personal level. He really shows how much he cares about you and it makes it easy to fight for him and take what he teaches you in the meeting room and go do it for him.”
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What can can expect from DeCamillis as a recruiter? While nearly his entire coaching career has been spent in the NFL, Markway is confident that DeCamillis will be a strong recruiter because it all goes back to one thing in his eyes: relationships.
“As a special teams coach, you need to be able to connect with everybody. Looking at his resume, he’s been doing this for a ton of years, and he’s got two Super Bowl rings. If (he wasn’t) able to connect with somebody then he wouldn’t have been able to do what he’s done. Like I said before, that’s the one thing that stood out me was his ability to not only connect with the special teams’ captain but guys who don’t even play special teams. Or, (guys who) have a minimal part in special teams. He makes it a priority to build those relationships and keep them and not in some fake and phony way. He truly means it.”
